What Is This I Don't Even is a catchphrase that first appeared on Paheal in April 2007 and became a go-to way to express speechless confusion on 4chan and other message boards. The unfinished sentence structure is the joke: the sentence trails off because the thing you just saw literally broke the speaker's ability to finish a thought.
Origin
The earliest documented use is a Paheal post dated April 26, 2007, where an anonymous user dropped "What is this I don't even" into the source link field of a Rule 34 image pairing the Family Guy characters Meg and Lois[1]. The phrase was the user's own reaction, not an actual source URL, which is part of why it stuck: it read as a confession that the uploader couldn't justify what they were looking at.
The exact author is unconfirmed, since the post is anonymous and no artist claim exists[1].
- Platform: Paheal (origin) / 4chan (viral spread)
- Creator: Unknown
- Date: 2007
Overview
What Is This I Don't Even works because the sentence refuses to end. Instead of saying "I don't even know what to say," the speaker breaks off mid-thought, as if the stupid or disturbing post they just saw short-circuited their brain before they could finish the clause[3]. That deliberate grammatical collapse is the whole gag.
On image boards the phrase typically shows up as a reply to a shocking, nonsensical or disgusting image, where it signals that the usual snark toolkit has failed[1]. Others pile on by repeating it, which inflates the lulz but also, in some communities, counts as overuse worth punishing[3]. The phrasing spawned the broader "I can't even" family of truncated reaction speech that stuck around well after the original catchphrase cooled off.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is What Is This I Don't Even?
It is a message board catchphrase used as a reaction to posts so shocking or stupid that the speaker cannot finish their sentence, and the unfinished grammar is the joke[3].
Where did What Is This I Don't Even come from?
An anonymous Paheal user typed the phrase into the source link field of a Rule 34 Family Guy image on April 26, 2007, which is the earliest documented use[1].
What does What Is This I Don't Even mean?
It signals speechless confusion or disgust; Urban Dictionary's 2007 entry defined it bluntly as an internet meme used to indicate confusion[4].
How do you use What Is This I Don't Even?
People typically drop it as a standalone reply under a bizarre image or video, and others repeat it to pile on, though some boards treat overuse as a bannable offense[3].
Is What Is This I Don't Even still popular?
The literal phrase is a classic now rather than an active trend, but the truncated "I can't even" style of reaction it helped seed stuck around in wider internet speech[2].
